Slice Of Life
by Boondock Jake
Summary: Years after the cancellation of the show, two former cast members have a chance encounter and learn just a little bit more about the other.


_A/N: This is a story I found in one of my old writing books. I wrote this sometime around 06 or 07 I think. It was around the time where my writing was still developing so it's not as up to par with my stuff today IMO but it's a fun little story so I thought I would post it, if not for nostalgic purposes._

_All Characters belong to Warner Bros. and Teletoon belongs to themselves._

Slice of Life

Brian sighed pulling his leather jacket over his head as he ran to his car, the rain poring down on him unmercifully.

His shoes came down on an especially big puddle which splashed up onto a small portion of his jeans. Mumbling a few curses, he fumbled with the keys in his pocket and managed to get the driver side door open. He sat down and quickly shut the door, giving his head a good shake, flinging a few beads of water from his brightly tanned fur.

Brian despised the rain.

Most dogs did and the German Shepherd was no different. He was just thankful that he didn't have any scenes to film outside today. Starting up the engine, his jeep came to life. Backing up out of the space he was in, he made his way to the studio lot's exit.

Brian came to a small guard shack and stopped just before the yellow and black border arm, brightly illuminated by the jeeps headlights in the dark stormy weather. He rolled down his window and greeted the old gruff looking security guard. He was a tiny, thin man with graying hair and a badly combed mustache under his nose.

"Hey Mel. Done for today. Wish me luck getting home in this weather." He joked, cracking a lopsided smile.

The security guard looked down from the paper he was reading but only briefly. "Uh huh." Is all he said and pushed a button causing the arm to lift up.

Brian's grin faded and he merely grunted a reply as he went through onto the street. _"I miss Ralph."_

He thought as he drove through the wet streets of the city. He missed a lot of things now that he thought about it. Brian watched the street lights pass by as he drove, a flash of light illuminating the inside of the car for a brief moment only to disappear. The toon often felt that was how long his career had lasted with the Warners.

Brian let out a long breath as if trying to exhale the memory from his body but found as usual, that it did very little. It was a painful memory. One he didn't enjoy reliving in his head. But despite the pain of it, even he had to smile as it was the best time of his life.

Working with the Warners was more than just a gig. It was down right _fun._ It should have been illegal with how much he enjoyed himself. The Warner Studio was always alight with comedy, song, dance and the occasional explosion. They were right there in the boom of the cartoon business and business as they say, was good. They were one of the most popular shows on television and the kids ate the stuff up. Brian couldn't blame them.

The Warner Bros and their sister were completely off the hook.

Yakko had that leadership quality that made him a master of comedy and the punch line. Whether it was cracking a pun or singing a song, Yakko brought to the table something that was hard to copy. Originality and the unexpected helped him sky rocket to the top.

The younger brother, Wakko was, well, gross. And what kid doesn't find the gross stuff funny? The guy belched an entire symphony. Brian dared anyone at that time to not laugh. Wakko also had an almost God-like skill with the mallet and TNT. Something that the 'old school' generation gave him much respect for, especially for being so young.

Then there was their sister, Dot. The girl was so cute that you could practically hear the 'awwwws' echoing through out the world. But with her cuteness came a fiery temper which made a great combo for comedy. She often ended up upstaging her older brothers in more than a few episodes.

The Warner siblings certainly were something. Not to say that the rest of the cast had nothing to do with the show's success.

The Goodfeathers were also a hit. Those guys had De Niro, Pesci and Liotta down to a T. A lot of their dialogue was actually improvised which made it all the funnier. They worked their feathers off every day.

Slappy and Skippy Squirrel had some of the best chemistry he had ever seen. Slappy never had to try. She just had to be Slappy. Funny was in her DNA. And Skippy played the innocent and naïve nephew better than anyone he knew. He was a good kid.

Rita and Runt were quite the duo. Rita had a beautiful voice and Runt was as dopey and lovable as they came. They had some difficulty at the start but soon managed to dig themselves a little niche in the show. Their shorts were some of his favorites.

Pinky and the Brain. Kids loved them almost as much as the Warners. It was no wonder they got their own spin off show. Brian always loved Pinky's lovable idiot to Brain's Orson Wells like persona.

Then there was himself.

Brian knew he wasn't as popular as the other characters but he was in his fair share of episodes. Of course he had his stage name to which most knew him as. The babysitter of a trouble making innocent blonde haired girl. The sympathetic loyal mutt who always ended up on the wrong side of an anvil to protect his owner.

"_Silly Buttons!"_

The child's voice echoed in his head and he couldn't help but feel a grin tug at the side of his muzzle. He was very proud of those episodes. And he had become very attached to the little girl who played his owner. All her cuteness and innocence was never acting, it was just Mindy. The cast and crew often thought that the two were made to work together for a long time. They all thought they were going to be there for a long time.

But that wasn't case.

Brian came to a gentle stop at a red light and he remembered the day like it had happened only a few hours ago when really it was years. He remembered it all. The confused expressions they wore when Mr. Plotz called a meeting one morning before any filming began. A meeting was rare for them. There was nothing but good news about ratings floating around for the last year so what was there to discuss? He could see all the horrified looks when Plotz told them the news that no toon ever wants to hear.

"_We're cancelled."_

It felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room. At first no one spoke then the room exploded into a barrage of questions. How could they be cancelled when they were one of the top rated cartoons out there? Whose decision was it to cancel them? Why? Just…why?

Plotz solemnly explained that cartoons just weren't what they used to be anymore. With the huge boom of cartoons from Japan being imported, kids no longer wanted the slapstick. Now they wanted giant fighting robots or weird animals based off of card games. Plotz and the producers fought with the board of directors for weeks trying to convince them to keep Animaniacs on the air. They even had Spielberg himself come in and talk to them. He vouched for the show as much as he could. He didn't want to see it go the way of his other show, Tiny Toons.

But despite the good fight he put in for them, there was no changing the board's minds. They were just the casualties of progress they said. It was time to move on to the future and that was anime.

They couldn't believe it. They were all out of a job. No more anvils. No more TNT. No more singing and dancing. No more anything.

Everyone took the news as bad as anyone could imagine. But the Warners took it the worst.

They didn't scream or shout. They didn't blitz Plotz with a fury of questions. They didn't even say a word. Their faces seem to drain of all color and their usual goofy expressions just faded. They left the room in silence. The entire studio watched as the siblings walked down to the studio lot. From there, they walked across to the famous WB water tower. Slowly they climbed the ladder with Yakko opening the giant logo that served as a door. He helped his brother up first, then his sister. They gave one last look to the studio and then shut the door.

They've been there ever since.

After that, the studio shut down the sets of Animaniacs. Everything was gone. And so were they.

Brian felt his stomach grumble, a reminder that he hadn't eaten much today. He took a right at another light and head down another road. There was a small diner just a few blocks away that he frequented from time to time. He hoped that they still had some blueberry pie left over.

Brian sighed again as he spotted the tall neon sign of the diner and pulled into the parking lot. The shepherd missed those guys. They were a great gang to be around, even after filming an episode. Getting out of his car, this time ignoring the rain splashing down on his head, he thought about them and their lives today.

He knew that the Goodfeathers had opened their own construction company and were making some pretty good money, although there was a lot of infighting mostly due to Pesto and Squit.

Pinky and the Brain were hosting a morning radio show. Brain was the ever so intelligent and tasteful straight man while Pinky chimed in with his usual idiotic dialogue for laughs. They were good but Brian thought they deserved better than what was given to them.

They all did.

The others, well, some of them just disappeared. A few tried to find work with other studios, much like he was, and others just plain quit the business. Slappy was one of them and he thought the old squirrel would be doing this till she was dead. But even she wasn't immune to the emotional wear and tear her heart took after the cancellation of the show. She gave up on the business that had been in her life since the thirties.

And Mindy…Brian missed her the most.

At that point he forced the thoughts out of his brain and stepped into the diner. A few customers sat in some booths, most of them empty though. They were elderly looking folks, some toon, some not. He walked up to the counter and took a seat on an empty stool. A woman in her late forties, wearing the standard diner outfit you see so often, walked up to him and leaned her elbow on the counter.

"Hey sugar. Long day at the movie works?" She asked him, a smile on her lips and a gleam in her hazy brown eyes.

"You don't know the half of it Jean." He said, smiling back.

"What'll it be hon?" She asked, pulling out a pencil from the knot in her bee hive shaped grey hair.

"A cup of coffee would be great and would you happen to have anymore of that blueberry pie?" Brian wondered, a hopeful expression on his face. The waitress laughed, shaking her head.

"We always put a slice away just for you."

Brian gave her a grateful smile as she went to the kitchen. His tail swished back and forth as he stared into his hands. Those memories had a way of anchoring themselves into his mind. The bell above the door rang through the diner as someone came through the door. Brian paid no heed as he was still too busy staring into nothing. The waitress returned with his coffee and pie slice. She set it down in front of him and turned her attention to the new customer.

"Sit anywhere you like dear." She said warmly.

"Thank you." A soft, silky feminine voice rang out. Brian's right ear twitched at the sound. It seemed…familiar. But he just figured that with all the reminiscing he's been doing, it was only natural to hear things. Just as he was about to take that first bite of his delicious pie, the voice rang out again, only this time, to him.

"Buttons?"

The canine froze in mid bite, his brow rising up in surprise. Slowly he turned around and nearly chocked on his food from what he saw.

At first he wasn't totally sure it was her. But there was no mistaking those slender legs that could drive a man wild even hidden behind her acid wash jeans. The way her black Rolling Stones t shirt hugged the ever so desirable curves of her upper body. The shining blonde hair that hung loosely around her shoulders and spilled over her black leather jacket. And her blonde furred tail that trailed behind her lazily.

There was no mistaking it.

"Minerva?" Brian managed to squeak out, fork still in his mouth. The two toons just stayed where they were, an odd moment of silence hanging in the air. It was broken however when the gorgeous mink threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tight.

"My God Buttons! It's been years! How are you!" She cried happily. Brian had to spit out his fork to keep from swallowing it and hugged her back.

"It's great to see you Minerva! I'm good. How are you?"

She released him and brushed a few stray hairs out of her eyes. "I'm doing okay. Been taking some personal time off lately but other than that, things have been alright."

"I'm really glad to hear that." Brian said, a genuine smile on his face. The two stood there again, another odd silence passing.

"Well sit down with me! We've got a lot to talk about." Minerva finally said, grabbing his hand and dragging him to an empty booth. He eyed his slice of pie as he was being pulled along, his stomach protesting but he ignored it.

Brian removed his jacket and tossed it in the corner of his booth while Minerva settled herself into the one across from him. Minerva looked at him and gave him a disbelieving smile which Brian couldn't help but return.

"It's been so long." Minerva said shaking her head slightly. Brian could only nod.

"I haven't seen you or anyone else since…" Minerva started but trailed off at the end.

"Since D-Day?" Brian finished for her. She could only nod. Brian felt an urgent need to change the subject. He wasn't the only one sensitive about the show's downfall.

"So tell me Minerva, what's been going on for you? I saw that you hosted that reality show for a while."

"You mean I Wanna be America's Best Yodeler? Yeah, that wasn't exactly my proudest gig." She chuckled. "I guess they figured it would be a ratings booster to have a hot chick standing around a bunch of lederhosen wearing nerds."

"It's still work though right?" Brian asked.

"True. I guess I shouldn't complain. I know work for…us isn't easy to find these days but I didn't think I would have to resort to that."

"Fair enough." Brian said, scratching the back of his left ear. "Well what about you? What have you been doing to keep busy?" She inquired, leaning forward on her elbows.

"Well, after the show I kind of roamed around from gig to gig. Usually small parts or just background appearances. After a while I told my agent they I needed to branch out into other things. So we took a shot and I auditioned for Cel Shade Studios."

"Really? Cel Shade? How did that go?" Minerva asked, her interest peaked.

Cel Shade Studios was a film company formed by some former cartoon characters who wanted to give other toons a real chance at acting. There was no dynamite or slapstick. It had it's comedies but they were more focused on other genres to show the world that there were more to toons than getting blown up and uttering a catchphrase.

"Thankfully it went pretty good. I didn't get the part I was going for but they put me on a call list in case something ever came up. I've managed to get a few bit roles in various films," Brian explained.

"Wow! What films?"

"Uh, there was 'Give Us The Sun' and 'Stone Heart', those was dramas. 'Bones Of The Night', 'Crackdown' and 'Strikers', action films. Then there was 'Six Bullets For Seven Men'. That was a western. Right now we're working on an unnamed project but I have a few more scenes in this one then the others."

"I saw 'Six Bullets For Seven Men'! It was great! I don't remember seeing you though." Minerva exclaimed.

"Maybe this will refresh your memory."

Brian stood up and made a stance like he was ready to draw a gun. Suddenly he went to draw but acted as if a bullet had struck him and he fell to the ground. Minerva laughed and clapped her hands.

"Oh yes, now I remember! A moving performance."

"You should have heard my Oscar speech." Brian joked, sitting back in his seat. Minerva laughed and looked out the window, watching the watery streaks run down the glass.

"I tried to audition there once." She said to her reflection in the window.

"Tried?"

Minerva looked from the window to Brian. He stared at her with friendly eyes causing her to look away, towards the counter.

"I…had one lined up but they decided to not put me through."

"That's weird. I would have thought that they would have been going crazy to have Minerva Mink want to work for them." He wondered, his eyebrows narrowing in interest.

"They would have…if that video hadn't showed up." She mumbled the last part of the sentence so quiet that Brian barely caught it.

There was an awkward moment of silence. The rain slapping against the window and the occasional clinking of utensils or a glass the only sound. Brian stared at his hands again while Minerva tried to hide the embarrassment on her face by staring out the window again. After almost a minute, Brian spoke,

"I thought they proved that wasn't you."

"They did," the mink answered, "But the damage had already been done. No one was going to hire me. Would you if someone posted a video online and said that was me doing…that?"

Brian opened his mouth to say something but Minerva cut him off.

"Do you have any idea how humiliating that is Buttons? To have your friends look at you and wonder? To have your parents almost disown you? To be the butt end of every joke on the late night shows?"

Brian said nothing.

"And when it's proven that it wasn't me, do I get an apology? No. It's 'Oh, that wasn't you. See you around'. It's bullshit. It's…"

Minerva stopped talking and covered her mouth with her hand. There was another moment of silence. She slowly brought her hands up to her head and gently brushed her hair back and let out a sound that sounded in between a laugh and a sob.

"I'm sorry Buttons." She croaked, looking as if she would burst into tears.

"Please, if I had a dime for every time I freaked out for allegedly being in a celebrity porn video then I would be sitting in a mansion right now."

Minerva laughed again. It was a refreshing and uplifting sound, one that Brian liked and made him smile. She sniffed back a tear and gave him an appreciative look.

"So, Buttons…I've been meaning to ask you something." She said, altering the conversation to a less demeaning subject. "I've always wondered how you got that name."

"It's really not a story I would want to tell a gorgeous woman like your self."

"Try me." The femme fatale challenged with grin. The canine shook his head and leaned back in his seat.

"When I was a kid I played a lot of video games, specifically fighting games."

"Pff. Boys and your silly games."

"I use to mash the buttons all the time because I could never get the combo's right so my brother called me 'Buttons' and my last name is Mash. Like, button mashing." He explained.

Minerva stared him for a moment and then said, "Yeah. I definitely wouldn't tell that story to a girl."

Brian laughed as did Minerva. "So what do I call you then? I've been calling you Buttons since I've known you."

"You can just call me Brian."

"Brian huh? Cute name." Minerva said with a mischievous smile. Brian avoided her gaze and his eyes wandered around the diner causing the mink's grin to widen.

"I always thought Mindy gave you that name. Speaking of Mindy, how is the little rascal? She must be nearly seventeen by now!"

Brian's demeanor seemed to change almost instantly. His shoulders sagged a bit and his eyes were focused down, away from her own.

"I haven't seen Mindy in years." He finally said. Minerva felt a wave of regret for asking the question. Judging by the shepherd's body language, this wasn't a happy topic.

"I'm sorry Brian. I didn't…"

"It's okay. It's…something I don't talk about much. That's all."

"You don't have to explain anything to me Brian. We don't have to talk about it." She said, giving him an apologetic look. Brian gave her a warm smile and said, "It's fine Minerva. Really."

"After the show," He began, "Mindy's parents started to do what we all did. They tried getting her work with different studios. I tried helping them out as well. I tried to see if anyone would pick up our old routine or if there was even just an opening for anything for her. Unfortunately she ended up in my situation. Just bit parts with no real long time work."

Brian rubbed his eyes tiredly and straightened himself up in his seat. "When it became apparent that she wasn't going to get any work here, her folks became desperate and decided to move out to Canada."

"Canada?" Minerva repeated.

"Yeah, there apparently was a better demand for toons up there for some company, Teletoon I think it was called. So they just packed up and left. I had only a few minutes to say goodbye to her. She was still so young that I don't think she fully understood what was going on. She gave me a hug and said, 'Buttons be good'. I didn't want to let her go."

"Oh Brian," Minerva breathed, "You really loved her didn't you?"

"I often thought of her as my own little girl." Brian mumbled.

"I tried keeping in touch with her but they kept moving around so much that I eventually lost all contact. I don't know if she had any success up there or not. I can only hope she did and still is."

He felt a soft hand caress his own and looked up to see her holding his own and giving him a tiny smile. It was a comfort and he smiled back.

"Well," He spoke up, breaking the tension, "I'm starving. What say you and I split a blueberry pie?"

"Sounds delicious." Minerva agreed. Brian waved over the waitress and placed an order. Minerva gave him another smile saying, "I wouldn't be too worried about Mindy Brian. She grew up in the heyday of cartoons. We had Darkwing Duck."

Brian laughed. "Yeah. And TaleSpin."

"EEK The Cat."

"Rocko's Modern Life."

"Bobby's World."

"The Tick."

"Earthworm Jim."

"RugRats."

Minerva laughed. "The nineties ruled."

"Nineties ruled." Brain laughed back. Jean came back with their pie and set it down for them with a wink.

The two former employees of the Warner Bros. Studio spent the rest of their time there discussing small, more enjoyable things and enjoying some of the best pie in the city. It wasn't until that Minerva looked at her watch that their reunion was to be cut short.

"Oh wow. I really should get going."

"Me too." Brian said, slipping his jacket on and dropping a few bills on the table. They made their way out of the diner, Brian waving a goodbye to Jean and stepped out into the night. The rain had thankfully stopped and the blanket of clouds had started to disperse, opening a window to the star filled sky. Brian walked Minerva to her car, a sleek red little convertible. She turned to him and put her hands into the pockets of her jacket.

"It was really good to see you Brian. I had a really nice time tonight. All things considered."

"I did too. So what's next for you?" He asked her.

"I have an audition lined up for a new television series. It's a drama and I've always wanted a part like this so I'm praying hard." She told him, a hint of nervousness in her eyes when she mentioned the audition.

"I really don't think you have anything to worry about." Brian said with the utmost confidence. She smiled at him.

"By the way Minerva," He said. He paused for a moment as if contemplating his next sentence then continued,

"I never once believed that was you on that video."

Minerva continued to smile and slowly walked up to him. She leaned forward and softly placed a small kiss on his lips. Brian's legs suddenly felt like they were made of cement.

"Thank you." She whispered to him and turned back to her car. She got in and took something out of the glove compartment with a pen and wrote on it. She handed it to him and started her car.

"If you ever need some work, give that number a call. He's my agent and he'll get you something, especially if I ask." She said with a smirk.

"I appreciate that Minerva, really I do but I think I'm going to be okay." Brian politely declined. Minerva nodded her head then looked back up to him.

"Then give the number on the back a call."

He flipped it over and looked at the number. "What's this?"

"It's mine." Is all she said, that smirk growing even wider. With that she pulled out of the lot and drove off.

Brian stood in the lot with a dumbfounded expression on his face. He looked back to the number, running a thumb over it. He suddenly chuckled to himself, looking to where she had driven off. Pocketing the number, he headed back to his own car. He stepped in and looked at his reflection in the rear view mirror. He shook his head smiling and started up his jeep.

That was by far the sweetest tasting pie he has had in a long time.

_A/N: Well that's it. For whatever reason, I remember back around that time I had listed above at the beginning that I read a few stories revolving around Minerva and some tape scandal. It seemed like a hot topic around that time so I guess I just threw that in there to be current. This wasn't meant to be a pairing either. If you like it, that's great, if not, that's okay too. I felt that it suited Minerva's flirty character to show some interest in him. Anyway, it was just a story to practice my dialogue between characters I think and to be honest, Buttons was my favorite Animaniacs character because he reminded me so much of my own dog so of course I was going to use him. Working on my next TTA fic and I know a lot of you are looking forward to that and it's almost done! So stay tuned! Cya! _


End file.
